‘Zuma interfered in Gama appointment’ - Barbara Hogan

Former public enterprises minister Barbara Hogan has pulled Jacob Zuma and the ANC squarely into the fray of the state capture inquiry, spelling out startling political interference in the appointment of the Transnet group CEO.

In the first day of damning testimony, Hogan told judge Raymond Zondo how former president Zuma flouted the law and the constitution by trying to usurp her authority as minister in attempting to force the appointment of Siyabonga Gama as the CEO of Transnet in 2009, against the recommendation of the parastatal’s board.

Hogan also testified how the ANC, the SA Communist Party, the ANC Youth League and trade union Satawu applied public pressure to muscle through Gama’s appointment, despite the fact that he was, at the time, facing charges over tender irregularities.

She said the organisations had claimed falsely that Gama was being sidelined because she and the Transnet board wanted to appoint a white candidate, when the highly capable Sipho Maseko, now CEO of Telkom, had, in fact, been recommended for the position.

Zuma had ordered the withdrawal of Hogan’s memorandum to the cabinet recommending Maseko for the position, insisting that the post be held in abeyance until the completion of Gama’s disciplinary process.

Hogan also told how two of her cabinet colleagues, current energy minister Jeff Radebe and former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, declared publicly that Gama would be appointed and claimed that he was being unfairly persecuted in the same way that Zuma had been.

Hogan also told Zondo about the intense pressure she had been under at the time.

She said that while former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki had always defended their ministers when they were under attack, Zuma had not stood by her.

“The president hung me out to dry,” she said.

Hogan, an ANC veteran and the only white woman imprisoned for treason by the apartheid regime, challenged the Zondo commission to examine political interference in the appointments of the boards and CEOs of state-owned companies.

The state-owned enterprises were at the heart of the statecapture project, with billions being funnelled to companies linked to the Guptas.

Significantly, the Guptas were never mentioned once in Hogan’s testimony. But she was highly critical of the role of the ANC in the corrosion of stateowned enterprises.

“Regrettably, these factional battles in the ANC only served to encourage and entrench nepotism and patronage from within the ranks of the [party] and the tripartite alliance and this would have very damaging consequences for the SOEs and, by extension, for our economy,” Hogan said.

She said a certain faction in the ANC national executive committee that was loyal to Zuma “thought they could dictate who could be CEO or not”.

In a telling intervention, Zondo said that the inquiry, among other things, needed to look at where matters went wrong with the capture of the state, “including the role of the ruling party”.

This flies in the face of the ANC’s claim that it is not on trial at the inquiry.

Hogan said that, from her experience, it seemed “the way to further your career is to walk the beaten path to Luthuli House”.

She said that in the early days of her time as public enterprises minister, she had experienced political heat and the crossing of lines between party and state.

This was when she had mentioned that South African Airways needed a strategic equity partner because of its serious financial difficulties.

This had landed her in trouble with the ANC and the alliance because they vetoed any form of privatisation.

“The secretary-general and deputy secretary-general kicked up a huge fuss and summoned me to Luthuli House,” Hogan said.

Gwede Mantashe and Thandi Modise were in the ANC secretariat at the time.

Hogan said she felt this was inappropriate as it should have been the president – not the party – calling her to account.

She also called into question the usefulness of the ANC’s deployment committee.

“If you see the number of appointments that go to cabinet every time, it is a huge number of people.

“For a handful of people to simply say this is their preferred candidate – on what basis? What transparency is there?”

Hogan warned of the dangers for the government if the deployment committee was captured by a certain faction in the ANC.

“We have to protect the government from undue influence,” she said.

She was also critical of the lack of professionalism in Zuma’s administration.

“There was never an aide present,” Hogan said.

She pointed out that with former president Kgalema Motlanthe, there were always written records of meetings with ministers.

“With President Zuma, the housekeeper would sometimes organise the meetings – there wasn’t professionalism there.”